An accomplished and versatile actor and singer noted for her “soaring soprano” and “striking theatricality” (The New York Times), Susan Derry is at home in a wide range of roles. She made her Broadway debut in the Tony Award–winning revival of Wonderful Town and performed the role of Christine in The Phantom of the Opera in Hamburg, Germany, with the Neue Flora Theater. She garnered critical acclaim for her portrayal of Francesca Johnson in The Bridges of Madison County at Keegan Theatre in Washington, DC; The Washington Post proclaimed, “the ace this staging is Susan Derry,” and BroadwayWorld called it the role of her career.

She is very proud to receive her first Helen Hayes nomination for Outstanding Lead Performer in a Musical for her work as the The Governess in Conner & Smith’s searing adaptation of The Turn of the Screw with Creative Cauldron Stage.

Susan sang Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady with the Utah Symphony Orchestra, opposite the late Peter Scolari as Professor Henry Higgins. She also made her Off-Off Broadway debut in The Shrill Collective’s world premiere of Megan Bussiere’s A Period Piece, portraying Sam. In 2026, Susan records songs by the late Gerald Ginsburg with PS Classics and steps into a new musical work created for her based on the life and poetry of Emily Dickinson.

Other theatrical career highlights include Marian in The Music Man; Kate/Lilli in Kiss Me, Kate; Desdemona in Othello; Fiona in Brigadoon; Meg in Crimes of the Heart; Helen in Saturday Night; Agnes in I Do! I Do!; Betty Schaeffer in Sunset Boulevard; Betty in White Christmas; and Gwendolen in The Importance of Being Earnest. Susan also has extensive professional experience in opera, premiering the role of Olivia in Gary Glickman’s adaptation of Twelfth Night with American Opera Projects and singing Jessica in the American premiere of Reynaldo Hahn’s The Merchant of Venice with Portland Opera.

Susan was the centerpiece of the Bold New Works series, an initiative to create world-premiere musicals in the DMV; her performance in the first piece, a new version of The Turn of the Screw, was hailed as “brilliant,” and she revived the role in the fall of 2025 to similar acclaim. Since then, she has earned accolades as Mary Shelley in Monsters of the Villa Diodati; as a daughter grappling with her mother’s decline from Alzheimer’s in Kaleidoscope; and as a hard-edged single mother in Witch—all testament to her versatility.

In concert, Susan has headlined as a guest soloist at Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops in an evening of Frank Loesser’s music, under the direction of Rob Fisher and the late Skitch Henderson. She has appeared in the Encores! series at New York City Center eleven times and has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall’s Community Sings series, the Lawton Symphony, the Palm Beach Orchestra, in Kennedy Center galas, Sondheim Award galas, and with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in Leonard Bernstein’s Mass, conducted by Marin Alsop.

As a cabaret performer, Susan creates nights that are intimate and vulnerable, a little mischievous, and full of warmth, including Ingenue You When (a BroadwayWorld Best Debut Show nominee at 54 Below) and I Wish It So, which became her debut album. She is the recipient of the BroadwayWorld Award for Best Cabaret/Concert/Solo Performance; was honored as a 2025 Cabaret Fellow at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center; and is currently the Cabaret Artist-in-Residence at Creative Cauldron Stage.

Susan earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University and a Master of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music. Beyond the stage, she is committed to holding the door open for the next generation of artists and is in her 11th year as an Adjunct Professor of Voice at American University in Washington, DC.

🌸 Emily: a new musical treatment of the life and poetry of Emily Dickinson gets its first public outing on April 30.

🎙 Out soon: Dedication: The Music Of Gerald Ginsburg. PS Classics